Could you survive the Australian Survivor fitness test?

Former pro cricketer Lee Carseldine has run marathons and trekked the Kokoda Trail before signing up for Survivor, so the 1600m part of the fitness test was a walk in the park. Picture: Nigel WrightSource:Supplied

HOW cut do you need to be to make the cut on Australian Survivor?

Turns out, when it comes to surviving the final fitness test, not quite as cut as you might think.

You don’t need abs on abs a la sculpted castaways Lee Carseldine, Kylie Evans and Rohan MacLaren. Nor do you need to be able to bench press your own body weight or run a marathon.

The reality of the reality show is that for the 24 castaways who make it to Samoa passing the final fitness test was as simple as lifting your child onto your hip, completing a set of push-ups most 60-year-olds could manage, or getting out of bed.

In fact, that’s pretty close to one of the very simple exercises they had to perform: lie down on the ground on your stomach. Then get back up.

Which is possibly why the show’s slogan is “outwit, outlast, outplay, rather than “outfit, outlast, outplay”.

Sydney exercise scientist and personal trainer Damien Kelly and former army medical officer turned GP and media presenter Dr Sam Hay put the test together for Australian Survivor creators, simply to gauge overall health and fitness.

“It was a basic test designed to check for things like specific weaknesses and mobility,” Kelly said.

There are unbelievably fit people like Lee and Rohan, but there’s no point being outfit if you can’t also outwit. Picture: Nigel WrightSource:Supplied

“All that was needed was to ascertain that the physical condition of a Survivor applicants was at the required level for their participation in the show — they weren’t there to break speed or endurance or bench press records.

“There is intentionally no modifications on expectations for men or women and those of different ages. It is simply assessing the expected physicality of an average person over six simple tests.”

The test might have been simple, but Peter Newman, head of Non-Scripted Content at Endemol Shine Australia, the production house behind Australian Survivor, said it was all part of a duty of care that’s taken very seriously.

“The fitness test is to make sure they are all physically healthy and fit enough to take part in the challenges and the overall physicality of being on the island for 55 days,” he said.

“It was one of a number of checks carried out on all the contestants before they arrived on the island to make sure they are healthy and prepared for their time on the show.

“While there are some unbelievably fit people like Lee, Sam and Kylie in the game, we needed a cross section of people who might be better at the mental and strategic part of the show.”

Newman said mental fitness was just as important as physical fitness on the show.

“Our age ranges from people in their 20s to their 60s with different strengths, not just physical who really hold their own against the more obvious strong contestants,” he said.

“The mental game is just as important as the physical. Living on the island is not easy but living and playing the game against 23 other people is just as tough.

“Plus not all challenges are purely physical — there are memory games, puzzles, much more than just challenges based on strength.”

TAKE THE TEST

1 — Walk/Run Endurance (to assess health of ankles, knees, hips and lower back, and meet expected physical endurance): Walk or run 1600m in under 20 minutes. Set a treadmill to 5km/hr (12mins/kilometre) or faster and have the participant complete 1600m in under 20 minutes. The average human walking speed is 4.8km/hr.

2 — Push Up Test (assesses health of shoulders, elbows and core): Complete 10 knee push-ups, with correct form in one minute. According to the American College of Sports Medicine the average 60 to 70-year-old will pass this test

3 — Squat Test (assesses health of knee, hip, ankle, core and general mobility): Squat to a depth where hip crease is lower than knee height. Once. A human’s number one functional movement is the squat. It allows us to access the ground.

4 — Weighted lift test (assesses lower back, shoulders, general strength and mobility): Lift a 10kg weight of any type from the ground to shoulder. Pick weight up and touch it to the front of the left shoulder. Return it to the ground, pick it up again, and touch to the right shoulder. This movement would be expected in the workplace or by a parent.

5 — Weighted Carry (Farmers Walk) to check general strength and mobility of entire body: Carry a 10kg weight, whatever way you like, in your arms, for 20m in one go. This tests basic strength and mobility similar to carrying wood or water.

6: General Mobility (checks healthy basic body weight movement): Lay down on the ground on your stomach, and get up again under your own steam. No ropes. No helping hands.

See? It’s as easy as getting out of bed. Or reaching for the TV remote.